132 Iowa 631 | Iowa | 1906
In August, 1902 the defendant company was installing a plant at Rockwell City, to be used in carrying on the business of canning corn. ■ This plant consisted of a main building, in which was the principal part of the machinery to be used, and an annex in which the corn was to be husked. In the annex, which was removed a short distance from the main building, was a corn conveyor, on which the ears of corn as husked were to be thrown, and an elevator to carry the ears from the annex into the main building. The elevator consisted simply of a broad belt, with cleats across it, running on two cylinders of some
The insufficiency of the evidence in various respects to warrant any recovery by the plaintiff was presented in the motion for a directed verdict, which the court sustained, and the ultimate question for our determination on plaintiff’s
The facts of this case do not bring it within any such rule, nor are they so far analogous that in reason the same principle should be applied to them. The machinery was not in an open lot unattended, but was in an inclosed building, into which it might be reasonably supposed no one would come without proper occasion. It was not negligently left unguarded, for the superintendent of the defendant and the representative of the Globe Company, and other employes, were about the building, and some of them had warned boys away from the machinery. It was not negligently left unlocked or unfastened, for it could not have been locked or fastened without interfering with its legitimate and proper use. It was not operated by the children as a plaything, but was • set in motion for a legitimate purpose, by means of power furnished from the main building. We think the rule of the turntable cases is not therefore applicable, and does not support the contention of appellant’s counsel that the facts bring the present case within the' scope of that rule. In Wood v. Independent School Dist., 44 Iowa, 27,
. T 4. Injuries to persons not! sm jurts. III. It is argued that the injured boy was in the annex, which was to be used as a husking shed, for the. purpose of husking corn, and in pursuance of an implied invitation, and therefore that the defendant 7 was under obligation to look out for his safety. We find nothing in the record from which an invitation could be implied. This boy had previously been employed in the main building in unloading cans, but on the day in question there were no cans to unload. There was no invitation to him to be in the annex for the purpose of husking corn, for there was no corn there to husk. It is unquestioned that he and the other boys were there out of idle curiosity, and, while their presence there may not be necessarily imputed to them as a fault,' it did not impose on the defendant any particular duty to look out for their safety, in the absence of reasonable knowledge or anticipation that their safety would be imperiled by the maintenance and operation of its machinery. We find nothing in the record to indicate that the superintendent of the defendant, or that Harrison, the representative of the Globe Company, or the employes assisting in the installation of the machinery, had any knowledge that the boys were playing about the machinery, or doing any acts with reference to it which involved them in any peril. The boys were, as already suggested, in the building, not in pursuance of any implied invitation, but for their own purposes, and no duty arose with reference to them until the employes of defendant-had some reason to anticipate that they would be endangered
The motion for a directed verdict was properly sustained, and the judgment is affirmed.